| CRAFTING THE CONTAINER |
| Skilled groups craft a conversational container or framework within which it is safe to discover, to learn and to not have to be certain. Within this container are three important elements:
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- STRATEGIES FOR STARTING THE CONVERSATION
Groups don't automatically come to the table and begin work. Most group members are making a physical, emotional and cognitive transition from other activities to the session they are joining. Effective strategies for starting the conversation centre group members' attention on a common point of focus. Such strategies act as foundations for group work and group member learning.
See Appendix D, following this document
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- STRUCTURING THE CONVERSATION
Purposeful conversations require shape and structure. Groups tend to avoid hard-to-talk-about topics when they lack protocols and processes for structuring data-driven dialogue and data-driven discussion. External structures maximize efficient use of time and increase psychological safety for individual group members.
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- VERBAL AND NONVERBAL TOOLS FOR SUSTAINING THINKING IN THE CONVERSATION
Participants make moment-to-moment decisions about whether or not a given instance is psychologically safe enough to risk offering a response, insight, or question. The facilitator's nonverbal and verbal communication skills are an important and modifiable factor in these participant decisions. The nonverbal and verbal skills of participants also influence one another.
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SKILLED GROUPS KNOW
What
Why
How
OF STRATEGIES AND PROTOCOLS
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SAFETY VERSUS COMFORT
Safety and comfort are not always the same thing in collaborative settings. Comfort with other people's discomfort is an important group resource. It is not the group's responsibility to make everyone feel at ease at all times. If groups are talking about the right things, individuals and the entire group may be unsettled at points in the conversation. The group's responsibility is to protect the integrity of the process being used and provide safety and security for everyone by helping them to trust that process.
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